I have only been blogging for just over a year. I am benefiting from it in many ways from being able to exchange emails with a few thousand people from all over the world to getting to make tens of new friends among the thousands of visitors to my blog everyday who share similar interest. I ended up collaborating with some of them on projects. Most of all, it is just great to have a place to share my thoughts with others. The future of blogging is unknown and we don’t know how it will evolve. At its most basic level, it is a giant content machine that forms the next extension of the Web. After a slow start, blogging rapidly gained in popularity the last 3 years. Blog usage spread during 1999 and the years following, being further popularized by the near-simultaneous arrival of the hosted blog tools. Blogs is now part of the media ecosystems.
Is there a blogger business model? Probably not. It is a bigger movement of the democratization of media, which is replacing the centralized, top-down controlled model. Companies now see the power of blogging, not necessarily just about asking the CEO or the marketing folks to write a bog. It is about harnessing the power of influence and knowledge to create possible affiliations. Companies can use bloggers to put a more human face on interactions between evangelist, expert users and amateur users and; marketers can create buzz through blogs; and bloggers can act as fact checkers for the mainstream media.
Blogging can also be a dangerous act. The Iranian parliament is about to pass a draft bill that would add a few of crimes to the list of those that can result in execution and among them "establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy." Apostasy means the abandonment of a religion. Iran already imprisons bloggers for challenging the government and executed 317 people for other crimes last year, up from 177 the year prior according to Amnesty International. The Committee to Protect Bloggers says that Iran is "among the worst offenders in terms of harassing, arresting and imprisoning bloggers, as well as students.” The Iranian government has blocked access to Facebook, Yahoo! and Flickr, among other sites.
And on another side of the world, Procter & Gamble's Pampers is bringing as many as 15 top "mommy bloggers" to the company's Cincinnati headquarters this month in the company's biggest effort yet to reach online influencers. They understand the power of influence and they are providing all-expense-paid trips as part of their communications outreach campaign. P&G sees the move as an emerging standard industry practice to inform bloggers, rather than buy their loyalty.
Johnson & Johnson's BabyCenter also entered a partnership last year with Federated Media to form the BabyCenter Parenting Federation, a hub featuring 17 mom blogs. According to Tina Sharkey, chairman and global president of BabyCenter. "But they were voices we felt were representational of the different moms online. BabyCenter partnered with them so we could have a blog network not just for our consumers but also for marketers who wanted to get the reach of the influentials."
Here are the some key considerations if you are developing a blog strategy from a corporate perspectives:
1/ You need Credibility. When developing a serious of corporate or marketing blog, being credible is the number one thing. No one wants to read press releases or marketing BS. Credibility also include the authenticity of the content and the nature of these content. Full disclosure is absolutely necessary. What unique perspective, experience or knowledge do they bring to the table? Industry credibility is especially critical in the world of corporate blogging.
2/ Having some Perspective. You need to have a unique perspective otherwise there are no reasons for people to read what you write. This is a simple one but often ignored. The authors' unique perspectives help humanize the whole experience otherwise they read your company annual report. Who does?
3/ Maintaining Relevance. The whole idea about blog is the timeliness of the content because people expect to get updated information due to the nature of blogs. Prepared to throw in information even before they are official. This is part of the deal. Insiders' info is expected.
4/ Balancing Risks Management. No question organizations struggle with this one. The idea is to find a balance between over stringent guidelines and restrictions due to the potential for legal liability and totally lack of risks management. Lawyers and HR dab the perspiration off their foreheads, hoping to avoid lawsuits created by inappropriate posts by employees and at the same time markets want an open and free dialogue with customers. .
There are a few more... but I really need to get back to my emails.
